The present invention is generally related to computerized method and system for managing electronic data, and, more particularly, the present invention is related to web-enabled system and method for assisting a consumer to reach a decision regarding repair or replacement of a product usable by the consumer.
Most consumers at one time or another have faced tough decisions regarding products that they use in their daily lives. For example, the consumer may be faced with deciding whether to repair or replace various products, such as appliances, home entertainment equipment, home office equipment, transportation equipment, etc.
The decision may be difficult because, on the one hand, the consumer may not want to replace a product while still at the prime of its expected useful life since this likely results in unrecoverable depreciation costs. On the other hand, the consumer may not want to get xe2x80x9cstuckxe2x80x9d with a product that is close to or has reached its expected useful life since this may result in frequent and costly repairs.
In either case, if the consumer makes a decision on the spur of the moment as to whether replace or repair the product without researching any relevant data, such as cost of any repairs and/or maintenance, present value of the product, replacement costs, etc., there is a high probability that such decision may not be a satisfactory decision in the long run. Unfortunately, for the consumer to make an informed decision would require a substantial amount of time to gather the type of data that would result in a sound decision.
In view of the above, it would be desirable to provide to the consumer a user-friendly tool that would assist the consumer to make a sound decision regarding replacement or repair of the product without the consumer being rushed by pushy sales personnel. It would be further desirable to take advantage of Web-enabled communication systems to make such tool inexpensively and readily available to large segments of the population without requiring any large number of actions on the part of the consumer to use the tool.
Generally speaking, the present invention fulfills the foregoing needs by providing in one aspect thereof a computerized method for assisting a consumer reach a decision regarding repair or replacement of a product usable by the consumer. The method allows for providing to the consumer a Web page including a plurality of data fields to be filled with data selectable by the consumer from a corresponding plurality of menus including respective product attributes. The method further allows for processing the product attributes selected by the consumer relative to stored economic value data of products with generally similar attributes to those of the product usable by the consumer. The processing is configured to provide options available to the consumer regarding any repair or replacement of the product usable by the consumer. The consumer is provided with a Web page hierarchically displaying the options and wherein each of the options includes a respective hyperlink for enabling the consumer to select one of the options.
The present invention further fulfills the foregoing needs by providing in another aspect thereof a computerized system for assisting a consumer reach a decision regarding repair or replacement of a product usable by the consumer. The system includes a processor configured to provide a Web page including a plurality of data fields to be filled with data selectable by the consumer from a corresponding plurality of menus including respective product attributes. Memory is used for storing economic value data of products with generally similar attributes to those of the product usable by the consumer. A processor is configured to process the product attributes selected by the consumer relative to the stored economic value data to provide options available to the consumer regarding any repair or replacement of the product usable by the consumer. A processor is configured to provide to the consumer a Web page hierarchically displaying the options and wherein each of such options includes a respective hyperlink for enabling the consumer to select one of such options.